Russian Ration Review

Thomas, a visitor to MREInfo, recently obtained a Russian ration and was kind/brave/generous enough to send in some pictures and a review of the ration.

I would not eat the ration again, the taste and quality are not good.The two main meals are full of fat and oil – not enough spices and too much salt – but a lot of beef. I had to heat it in the microwave. It’s like food from the Middle Ages.

Number 4 (stewed beef) – do you know “schmalzfleisch” from the German ration? It’s the same, but I don’t know if the German “schmalzfleisch” is made of beef or pork. I think it’s supposed to be eaten cold like “schmalzfleisch”
with the amy loaves. I ate a little of the stewed beef (number 4) cold – it was not good. Now I put the rest in the microwave. I don’t know if the Russians eat it hot, I wasn’t going to test it. A lot of fat in the can – approximately 30% (thirty!!!) white fat – it must be drinkable when it’s hot. [Note from later: There is not 30% fat in the can – it’s more like 50% – the fat turns into liquid when heated. The can was half full of fat.]

On the can is a web address: http://www.kzs.ru. At the site near the top is a button for the english version of the website. The red round symbol from the website is also outside on the Russian ration, the 100 gram can of meat spread, the sugar, and the tea with sugar.

Number 5 – the beverage concentrate – I used cold water to mix it. The color was yellow, the flavor was only sweet, nothing like lemon or another fruit.

The amy loaves are like the crackers from the US MRE – not like the hard biscuits from the German ration.

The tea with sugar is ok, a little too sweet. Why are there 3 bags of sugar in the ration? 45 grams of sugar but no chocolate and 2 cups of tea are not enough for 24 hours. Where is the coffee? Don’t they drink coffee in Russia? I can’t live without coffee in the morning.

The 100 grams canned of meat spread is ok.

The two hard sweets are good, with flavor from honey.

The paper napkins are very soft, I would buy them in the supermarket.

The fruit jam is made from apricots…but i’m not sure…the flavor is not clear – it’s like syrup, no fruit pieces. [ed. note – the fruit jam is labeled as “apple jam”]

The yellow pill is a vitamin tablet? It should be eaten in the morning, then the ration tastes great. I didn’t eat this thing – now it’s too late.

Russian ration boxRussian ration contents

 

Russian Ration crackers and condimentsRussian Ration Main Entrees
Russian Ration ContentRussian Ration canned pates